People: George Michael has problem with song

Associated Press

Published Saturday, March 01, 2003

LONDON (AP) - British pop singer George Michael, who has spoken out against a possible war on Iraq, has criticized plans by Lee Ryan of British boy band Blue to gather pop stars to record a protest song.

Ryan said last week he hoped to approach stars such as Justin Timberlake, Pink and Kylie Minogue for a song in the spirit of Band Aid, the 1984 record to aid Ethiopian famine relief.

But Michael, 39, said the prospective participants were too young and politically naive to carry it off.

"I'm begging, I'm hoping that there will not be a Band Aid 2 because the reality is that very, very few people in the industry now, that you're hearing on the radio, make their money from their own hearts and minds," said Michael, who performed on Band Aid's "Do They Know Its Christmas?"

"They make their money from singing the words of others, and so therefore the weight of something called Band Aid 2 would be incredibly slight," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s "Hardtalk" program in comments broadcast Wednesday.

Ryan said he'd written a song titled, "Stand up as People," with the chorus: "When are we gonna stand up as people-Realize that as people we're all equal-We don't want no world war sequel-For the love of God think of the people."

Amy Fisher back in the news

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - Amy Fisher, who set off a frenzy of tabloid headlines a decade ago when she shot her lover's wife, celebrated the end of her parole by announcing her intention to work for causes aimed at keeping handguns away from minors.

"I committed a terrible crime when I was only 16 years old," Fisher writes in the Long Island Press, a free weekly where she has worked as a columnist since last summer. "Today I am 28, a mother and almost a stranger to that teenage girl who became known around the world as the 'Long Island Lolita.'"

Fisher was released from prison in 1999 after serving seven years for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the head during a confrontation outside Buttafuoco's home.